Security Forces continue to thwart terror in northern Iraq

(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (June 27, 2005) – Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom killed one terrorist, injured two terrorists, detained 11 suspected terrorists, and seized three weapons caches during operations in northern Iraq today and Sunday.
Soldiers from 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment were attacked by terrorists with small arms fire while patrolling in Tal Afar today. They returned fire killing one terrorist and injuring another two. The injured terrorists will be detained following treatment

3rd ACR moving to Ft. Hood

By Dick Foster, Rocky Mountain NewsJune 24, 2005
COLORADO SPRINGS - Fort Carson will be host to one of the most modern divisions in the Army when the 4th Infantry Division returns to its longtime home after an 11-year absence.
The 4th, based at Fort Carson from 1970 to 1995, will bring its 19,000-plus troops to Colorado Springs in fall 2006, after its next yearlong tour in Iraq begins about October, Army Secretary Francis Harvey announced Wednesday. With units already at the post or scheduled to arrive, Fort Carson's troop strength is expected to reach nearly 27,000, compared with about 15,000 now.
In conjunction with the division's move, the 5,300-member 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment will move to Fort Hood, Texas. That could come when its current Iraq deployment is completed next March.
In Army logistics, the moves make sense by consolidating armor units at Fort Hood and an infantry division at Fort Carson.
"It will be like forces in like locations," said Army spokesman Paul Boyce at the Pentagon.
The Army had split the 4th Infantry Division in 1995, keeping one brigade at Fort Carson when it moved the rest to Fort Hood in 1995. That same year, the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment, a bigger, heavier unit with more tanks and Bradley Fighting Vehicles than an infantry brigade, moved to Fort Carson from Fort Bliss, Texas.
Now, the 3rd ACR will join the 1st Cavalry Division at Fort Hood after the 4th Infantry departs.
Over the past year, the 4th Infantry Division has been reorganizing along the Army's new "modular" concept, making each 3,800-soldier brigade more independent without having to move as part of an entire division.
Operations such as reconnaissance, military police and security, signal corps, engineering and logistics that were once controlled by the division are being parceled out to the brigades. The change is designed to make the Army more flexible, able to deploy in smaller or larger numbers as situations warrant around the world.
The 4th Division is also fielding all new tanks and has refitted weapons systems with the most modern command, control and communications equipment available.
At Fort Carson, the announcement of the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment's move to Fort Hood was accompanied by Army assurances that families will not be moved while the regiment is currently deployed in Iraq.
"This announcement is not a cause for concern," said Fort Carson spokesman Lt. Col. David Johnson. "We're not moving families. They're staying here until their spouses come home."
In Colorado Springs, though, preparations have been under way for months for expansion at Fort Carson, even before Wednesday's announcement of the division's return.
The division's move was greeted as good news by civic and business leaders who predicted an influx of $500 million to $700 million in new Army payroll, and perhaps $1 billion in construction on post to accommodate the new division.
Outside the post, the Army and local leaders have already identified two road improvement projects costing more than $200 million to ease expected congestion around the post.
"This is not a surprise to the community. In fact, we had projected growth in the military and hoped for it," said Mike Kazmierski, a former Fort Carson garrison commander and now interim CEO at the Colorado Springs Economic Development Corp. "And the impacts to the community are all manageable."

Hi DadHappy Fathers Day 

HAPPY FATHERS DAY

We Love You DAD

Raeven
K.J.
Faith

You are in our hearts and minds each day.

SSG Harris, 3rd ACR, sent me this picture from Iraq today. Nice Haircut

What kind of vehicle is this? Must have something to do with detecting or clearing objects on the side of the road. Am I close?
big arm

Push this

What the heck kind of vehicle is this? Looks like a minesweeper or IED finder. How close am I?

Donnie & Pa

3rd ACR in Tal Afar

BY TOM LASSETER, Knight Ridder Newspapers
TAL AFAR, Iraq - (KRT) - U.S. Army officers in the badland deserts of northwest Iraq, near the Syrian border, say they don't have enough troops to hold the ground they take from insurgents in this transit point for weapons, money and foreign fighters.
From last October to the end of April, there were about 400 soldiers from the 25th Infantry Division patrolling the northwest region, which covers about 10,000 square miles.
"Resources are everything in combat ... there's no way 400 people can cover that much ground," said Maj. John Wilwerding, of the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment, which is responsible for the northwest tract that includes Tal Afar.
"Because there weren't enough troops on the ground to do what you needed to do, the (insurgency) was able to get a toehold." said Wilwerding, 37, of Chaska, Minn.
During the past two months, Army commanders, trying to pacify the area, have had to move in some 4,000 Iraqi soldiers; about 2,000 more are on the way. About 3,500 troops from the 3rd ACR took control of the area this month, but officers said they were still understaffed for the mission. [...]
When an attachment of 25th Infantry soldiers, doing a sweep in tandem with the 3rd ACR, came across a house near Rawah last week, they were expecting to sit down and talk with the locals about water quality.
In June 2003, American troops had destroyed an insurgent training camp in the area, killing more than 70 suspected fighters with helicopter strikes and a large ground offensive. It was one of the biggest camps discovered in postwar Iraq.
Last week, when the ramp of an armored vehicle began to open outside the house near Rawah, an insurgent shot a rocket-propelled grenade at it and other insurgents let loose with machine-gun fire.
The 25th Infantry soldiers responded first with .50-caliber machine-gun fire and then two shoulder-launched rockets. Four insurgents - three from Saudi Arabia and one from Morocco - were killed, Maj. Denny said. After the house caught fire, four more insurgents surrendered. They were from Syria, Jordan and Algeria.
"They'd come to Iraq to kill Americans; they were looking for jihad" - or holy war - Denny said.